It was the first day of fourth grade, and my Social Studies teacher told us it was time for the pledge of allegiance. All the students stood up: all but me.

I don’t recall if we’d had the pledge before that: if we did I don’t remember it. Whether it was an innovation, or whether I had simply taken it into my head at that point that I wasn’t going to salute the flag, isn’t clear to me: all I remember is the reaction of my teacher, Mr. Poli.

He was a young guy, or, at least, young compared to the mostly female teachers who predominated at my elementary school. He wore sporty ties, and his hair was longer than the obligatory crew-cut of that era. When I refused to stand, instead of sending me to the Principal’s office he asked me why. The question took me aback. The flag was a symbol of Authority, and, it seemed, of the stifling conformity I saw all around me: I couldn’t articulate this very well, although I tried, but Mr. Poli got the message, and he asked me to stay after class. All the kids sniggered: there was Raimondo acting up again! Now he was sure to be in plenty of trouble!

I expected a lecture, and worse: what I got was a pile of books. In my inchoate reply to his question of why, I had said “We aren’t free, we don’t live in a free country” (or words to that effect) – and the books were his answer, including a copy of the Constitution. He saw that I was interested in politics, and that – in my own adolescent, emotionally-driven, confused way – I was making a political protest.

He kept giving me books. I discovered the Founding Fathers, and their idea that America must be a republic: I found out we have a Constitution that protects us from the depredations of overweening government, and that the Bill of Rights is a mighty bulwark against the sort of tyranny I thought we lived under. He directed me to the school library, which carried the political magazines of the day: The New Republic, The Nation, National Review, and even American Opinion. I read them all, and subscribed to National Review. Under the influence of Frank S. Meyer I became a “fusionist” conservative, and, later, a libertarian – and Mr. Poli gets the credit or the blame for that. He taught me that inchoate emotional outbursts are not enough: that ideas matter, and that we do live in a free country – or, at least, we did at the time.

Mr. Poli was trying to tell me it’s okay to have opinions, and that the American system of government, rather than punishing you for having them, instead is designed to protect and defend your right to have them and express them. You’re not saluting a mere flag, he told me: you’re saluting the principle of freedom.

I believed him then. However, I’m not so sure about that anymore. Not when I have the FBI breathing down my neck.

Here you can read about the launching of the lawsuit by myself and Antiwar.com webmaster Eric Garris – with the invaluable assistance of the American Civil Liberties Union – against the FBI for failing to disclose documents relating to their surveillance of us and of this web site. We know they have such documents because one of them was released in redacted form in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by another party, which you can see here. I have written about this before, but at the time the issue wasn’t as timely as it apparently is today. Because the launching of the lawsuit comes at a moment when government surveillance and harassment of this administration’s opponents, as well as the news media, is making headlines.

We have three different scandals involving illegal government surveillance of political activists and journalists:

The Tea Party IRS brouhaha, in which the IRS was apparently singling out conservative groups – anything with the words “tea party,” or “constitution” in the title was suspect – for extra scrutiny has the administration on the defensive. The IRS bureaucrat in charge of tax exempt organizations, one Lois Lerner, took the fifth amendment at a congressional hearing on the matter.

The Associated Press phone records seizure – an extensive operation in which the government subpoenaed the phone records of five reporters, including home phones and fax lines, and 21 lines in five different offices, out of which 100 reporters regularly worked. The ostensible rationale for this was a story published by the AP which revealed a joint US-Saudi spy operation that reportedly prevented an updated version of the “Underwear bomb plot” from being launched in Yemen.

Even worse is the Fox News spying scandal, in which Fox’s chief Washington correspondent, James Rosen, not only had his phone records seized, but also had his email account broken into by government agents. The authorities also secured the phone records of Fox’s Pentagon correspondent, their State Department office, their White House correspondent, and top Fox News executives. In short, the network hated by this administration was targeted from top to bottom. The ostensible reason: an innocuous story published by Fox News online that said US intelligence sources indicate North Korea will launch another round of missiles if increased sanctions are imposed.

What’s scary about the Fox News case is that the FBI’s affidavitalleges reporter Rosen is “at the very least, either as an aider, abettor and/or co-conspirator,” a felon, for doing his job as a reporter – which is asking for information. To use the Espionage Act against a reporter in this manner is unprecedented – and I would say shocking, except that nothing shocks anymore, not in the present legal atmosphere of unlimited government power.

These stories are all making headlines today, but their roots go back to 2001, when Congress passed the “Patriot” Act without reading it, and the witch-hunt against Muslims and “radicals” was going full force.

As far as weknow, the FBI “investigation” into Antiwar.com began in April of 2004. In a parody of what the general mentality was at that time, the FBI memo instructing regional offices to probe Antiwar.com raises the possibility that we are a “threat to National Security” and quite possibly “agents of a foreign power.” What is foreign here is the paranoia and Bizarro World craziness of this rationale for spying – foreign to America, that is, until September 11, 2001, when it became all too routine.

The “hook” that got us roped into this fishing expedition “investigation” was my discovery of a “Terrorist Suspect List” issued by the FBI and posted on the web site of an Italian bank: another version was posted on the site of a Finnish bank. I discovered these documents in the course of researching a column, using Google. In short, I was doing what a writer does – utilizing a search engine in the course of my research, much as James Rosen was doing what all reporters do, which is asking questions.

In the eyes of the FBI, however, the act of researching publicly available documents was a potentially criminal act, sparking an investigation fueled by speculation that I might very well be engaged in threatening national security on behalf of a foreign power. Research and reporting – this is what the secrecy-obsessed US government now considers a criminal act. But it didn’t start with James Rosen – and it won’t end there, either.

The FBI memo goes on to state:

“There are several unanswered questions regarding www.antiwar.com. It describes itself as a nonprofit group that survives on generous contributions from its readers. Who are these contributors and what are the funds utilized for?”

Funds raised by Antiwar.com go to pay the expenses of running a news organization – salaries, web design, cyber-protection, etcetera – just as funds raised by Fox News, the New York Times, and Good Housekeeping go to pay the expenses incurred by those media outlets. There is no mystery here.

It’s simultaneously funny, and horrifying. The FBI was so busy tracking us, and spying on Fox News, that they simply didn’t have time to keep tabs on Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his brother Dzhokhar as they were planning the Boston Marathon bombing. In spite of a warning from the Russians about Tamerlan’s jihadist views, and his travel to Dagestan and Chechnya, the FBI wasn’t too concerned about this potential threat to national security – not when those dangerous radicals from Antiwar.com were running around loose!

Back when I was in the fourth grade, as the tumultuous 1960s were about to erupt all around me, the US government was engaged in extensive surveillance and disruption of supposedly “subversive” groups in this country: J. Edgar Hoover’s G-men were infiltrating and spying on the Communist Party, the Socialist Workers Party, and other groups deemed a “threat.” The difference, however, is that they did it in secret: they slunk around in the dark, hoping no one would notice. Today, however, the government is doing these things openly, without any real fear of being caught. For example, the affidavit filed in the Fox News/James Rosen case details the shocking extent of the surveillance, and makes no bones – or apologies – about it. Similarly, there is a “we can get away with anything” tone in the FBI memo on Antiwar.com that throws caution to the winds, with only a perfunctory nod in the direction of the First and Fourth Amendments.

When Mr. Poli told me saluting the flag is really saluting the idea of freedom in America, I believed it. I’m not so sure I believe anymore.

NOTES IN THE MARGIN

Our spring fundraising drive has picked up a bit, no doubt in response to the filing of our lawsuit against the FBI, and that’s good – but we’re still a long way from making our goal. Please help us in our fight against the destruction of our civil liberties. We need your help in our campaign to change the direction of American foreign policy: please make your tax-deductible donation today.

You can check out my Twitter feed by going here. But please note that my tweets are sometimes deliberately provocative, often made in jest, and largely consist of me thinking out loud.

I’ve written a couple of books, which you might want to peruse. Here is the link for buying the second edition of my 1993 book, Reclaiming the American Right: The Lost Legacy of the Conservative Movement, with an Introduction by Prof. George W. Carey, a Foreword by Patrick J. Buchanan, and critical essays by Scott Richert and David Gordon (ISI Books, 2008).

You can buy An Enemy of the State: The Life of Murray N. Rothbard (Prometheus Books, 2000), my biography of the great libertarian thinker, here.

201231300051 Responseshttp%3A%2F%2Foriginal.antiwar.com%2Fjustin%2F2013%2F05%2F23%2Fup-against-the-fbi%2FUp+Against+the+FBI2013-05-24+06%3A00%3A44Justin+Raimondohttp%3A%2F%2Foriginal.antiwar.com%2F%3Fp%3D2012313000 to “Up Against the FBI”

"First they came for …. but I was not one of them. I was silent. Then they came for the….and I was not one of them and still I said nothing. Then they came for me, but there was nobody left to say anything.

Muslims do not move into the country and respect our laws, as well as almost all new immigrants, they expect the existing people to change to suit them. Muslims in this country do not care about the constitution anymore than someone walking across the border. Everyone who comes here comes here with the idea that we as Americans should change because they showed up. Sites like Antiwar and other lefty sites only empower this train of thought that whatever is here is yours. We should all pay even though "I myself do not like you". No one asks if we want this, no one cares. Immigrants just keep piling in and getting freebies that are not afforded to Americans, and if we aren't paying for them here we'll pay for them there.
I Dislike Muslims.don't like that, too bad

Wow great reply, you must have thought about that for a long time, did some study and finally came up with that, and now that you posted it I have thought about it and changed my mind, not only do I dislike the immigrants I dislike you. thanks

bigoted |ˈbigətid|
adjective
obstinately convinced of the superiority or correctness of one's own opinions and prejudiced against those who hold different opinions : a bigoted group of reactionaries.
• expressing or characterized by prejudice and intolerance : a thoughtless and bigoted article.

[…] Antiwar.com, led by Justin Raimondo, has filed suit against the FBI. The details can be found in “Antiwar.com Sues FBI After Secret Surveillance“. However, I want to highlight an important point about the nature of the FBI made by Raimondo in “Up Against the FBI“. […]

Isn't it cute how in an article where you talk about how great the Bill of Rights is, you insinuate that Lois Lerner must be guilty of everything Issa imagines she's guilty of because she plead the Fifth.

You are breathtakingly ignorant about libertarianism. Its central ideal is the non-aggression axiom. In other words, you're free to do whatever you want as long as it doesn't violate the rights of another to do the same.

How exactly is this the thinking of a brownshirt? Do you even know the origins of that term? Look it up. Study what these people did and how they acted. Then compare it with what's going on today. You may discover some scary parallels, and none of it is even remotely libertarian in nature.

Mike is correct to say that your musing about whether Libertarians are "on the side of" corporations or people demonstrates that you aren't very familiar with the political philosophy you are attempting to critique. If you were, you would understand why "statist" is, after all, an appropriate response to your criticism. And you would see how absurd it is to compare opponents of coercion with the archetypical example of coercive statist thugs.

Hello, I am a fan of this site and I am promoting a work of mine I recently published on Amazon's Kindle entitled, "The Hunter and The Hunted", by Anna Christoff.

It is a "dystopian" novel in the tradition of "Fahrenheit 451" and "A Clockwork Orange"; a psychological thriller with a vivd Man-Against-the-State theme that merges a strong philosophical base with well-paced narrative action. The recurring symbol of the white stag–the Christian legend of St.Hubertus/Eustace–is the leitmotif of the story's overall theme about redemption through human love.

Please do buy a copy. It is $10. The price is high, the writing is excellent. Please help support talent not trash. Thank you.

I believe in equality for everyone, I didn't finish college, so neither should anyone else, it's only fair. I'm not employed so neither should anyone else. Fairness, John, it's all about whats fair. If I'm spied upon so should they. I wouldn't want anyone to feel left out. I'm not supposed to say how I feel about anything, neither should you, why should you have free speech and I can't?

But seriously John, I couldn't care less who comes to this country, or from where they came, they should be treated just like me, currently that's like shit. I'm not anyone's caretaker, nor should I be required to.

You make fun of john g for his reply but you are not far from him either. You state that Muslims -and you throw them all in a bag- don't respect the laws of your country. Did you reflect enough before writing this? To begin with your statement is a generalizaton fallacy. It is as if said that all Americans are a bunch of ignorant, violent-prone, junk food eaters. You say that Muslims do not care about your Constitution. Do you? Do the elites in your country? Did Bush? Does Obama now? "Everyone who comes here comes here with the idea that we as Americans should change because they showed up." Uhm, interesting. This is precisely the "philosophy" your ancestors used to steal the land because maybe you forgot the way this land "passed" onto the hands of westerners. In other words your ancestors came and thought that this was "their" land now just because they had showed up. What do you whine about? Have you forgotten you also come from a immigrant background? How easy to come and once you took over, close the door to everybody else.

Somehow, and I believe this very comment section proves me right, I think that antiwar.com will have an ever-increasing influx of hostile commentators and thread-derailers. How odd it seems that only a few weeks ago most- if not all- the comments were very much in accord but recently we have an astounding amount of naysayers and dissenters on board.

I would say that the real left — progressives — are firmly in charge of the interventionist, imperialistic state and are waging a war on core freedoms and liberties. It is what they do. In this respect they are kissing cousins of the neo-cons.

Fear of freedom incites demands for a fascist fatherland

I guess it is a positive that john g has become at least a "little" alarmed at the current state of affairs.

"it's the Left!! They are ones who think that government is the answer to all our problems……"

Or is it the Right and their "Corporations are People" license that codify our elections as auctions..

Perhaps the real problem….. is the Straussian informed discourse (maybe dis-coarse) of our political dialog. Almost everything our leaders say are lies…. As Raimondo points out……… In politics today, truth telling has become the ultimate crime….. Calling a spade a spade has been criminalized!

How strange (and telling) that in the forefront of the FBI's indictment of Mr. Raimondo, that we should find Dominick Sutter. One can only wonder why…….. Was the FBI concerned the long ago absconded Mr.Suter would what? Find out what? Suter is safe in the protection of our Israeli friends thanks to, I suspect, the intervention of (felow Israeli citizen?) Michael Chertoff……… Check http://dominiksuter.com/ There is a "contact" button to click" ……………. End part 1.

We Know that the FBI's work is not limited to meticulous scrutiny of persons and groups who oppose our security statism and foreign entangled military aggression. They are also vigilant for anyone who may harbor resentment for government policies, actions, even attitudes, and whatever other malcontent et al. to, as they claim, to vet them.

john g, I'm one of what seems like few who's with you – however, I can't quite understand why do you think it appropriate to raise the issue of economics in this particular thread? Antiwar.com is being investigated by the FBI, I think that's important enough. Our disagreements in the field of economics that we have with the "core libertarians" can be discussed at length once they're left alone by the almighty Washington hydra, don't you think?

I would say it is time for John to come home now. You cannot help people do anything. Be one of us, John, we just exist, we can't do anything about the world, we just exist in it. Welcome to my world John, the door is open for you to come on in.

You are an ass, I am on the right and no I do not think corps are people or that they should run the world. I don't think anyone should run the world, I think people should take care of themselves whether in groups or alone. I think the government should be there to protect our right to be free and choose our associations not dictate how I should live. I don't want you to tell me how I should live any more than I want the president of his racist wife to tell me, there are things we should decide for ourselves.

Justin Raimondo is the editorial director of Antiwar.com, and a senior fellow at the Randolph Bourne Institute. He is a contributing editor at The American Conservative, and writes a monthly column for Chronicles. He is the author of Reclaiming the American Right: The Lost Legacy of the Conservative Movement [Center for Libertarian Studies, 1993; Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 2000], and An Enemy of the State: The Life of Murray N. Rothbard [Prometheus Books, 2000].